Pain Relief
by Orange H
Summary: Short little one-shot: nearly dying from lightning hurts, as Aang finds out; pain in his back brings Katara over for a healing session, and he might or might not have accidentally let out something that he wouldn't have let out had he been fully conscious. Cute little story, hope you enjoy!


**Just a cute little idea I had - didn't want to make it too dramatic, so I cut out almost all angst. Enjoy, and review! (Oneshot) Set right after Aang wakes up in book three in the fire navy ship. **

Man, being struck in the back with lightning _hurts_.

There were times after he woke up where the pain had been unbearable, and his body refused to let him take solace in unconsciousness. This was one of those nights, and Aang arched his back as the pain racked up and down his spine, concentrated on his new scar, sweat dripping down between his shoulder blades and his matting his still unfamiliar hair to his forehead. His fists clenched at his sides, his fingernails almost drawing blood from his palms as he closed his eyes tightly, silently pleading with whatever gods there were for this to _stop_ - he'd rather fight the Fire Lord a hundred times than endure another second. He had wondered when the pain started if he should call for Katara, but after quickly doing the math in his head, decided against it - he didn't usually call for her anyway, and when the pain first appeared it was roughly four hours after dinner, which had been at seven. He didn't want to wake her up at eleven at night because his back hurt.

The pain had lasted unusually long - it had been going on for about two hours now, and his sheets were soaked with sweat as he occasionally let out small moans of pain that escaped his lips. Every second he felt like the next would drive him insane. Damn it, if only everyone wasn't asleep; he wasn't going to wake Katara, he decided grimly, but he could see if some water from the basin on the other side of the room would help him cool off.

Unfortunately, the first couple times he tried to waterbend ended up with a mess on the floor, concentration being broken a few seconds into the action by another racking pain in his spine, causing a small _splash_ on the floor and a mental curse. He finally decided that he'd try to brave it, and though the distance between him and the basin seemed longer than The Great Divide, his growing thirst urged him on, and he did his best to ignore the shooting pains in his legs as he swung them over the side of the bed.

Taking a deep breath, he gripped his staff tightly and leaned heavily on it as he propelled his weight off the bed. The worst pain yet shot through his whole body, and he let out a cry of pain as he fell to the floor and tried to ease the suffering by curling halfway into a ball.

He didn't even hear the feet shuffling outside or the door open over his struggle for air, but he did hear the horrified little gasp that came out of Katara as she saw him covered in sweat, curled up on the floor in pain. He mentally cursed himself for waking her up from her slumber next door, but a small part of him was also relieved that the pain would soon be eased.

"Aang!" she said, horrified, as she rushed over to him to try and help him up. "What happened?!"

"Needed... water", he gasped out as she put his arm over her shoulder, ignoring its searing pain in determination not to let her know how much it hurt. He was the Avatar, he could do this.

She started to lift him, and suddenly his whole body was on fire, his spine sending out searing pains to every inch of his body, and despite himself he let out a loud cry of pain that he only hoped didn't wake anyone else. He dropped his head in an effort not to swear, and new sweat beads popped out on his forehead and neck as he once more closed his eyes in pain. Katara could feel his muscles tense and the heat radiate off of him as his knees nearly gave out, and she could never remember feeling so bad as when she waited for his pain to subside, which it didn't for another two minutes, and when he finally gasped out "sit", she gently lowered him onto the bed, earning another gasp of pain but a look of gratitude as he grasped the edge of the bed and tried to regain his breath.

"Oh, gods, Aang, I am _so, so sorry_", she apologized, but he waved his hand and gave a weak smile to the ground in an attempt to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. "I know you're in pain, but we need to get you onto your back so I can heal your scar."

It took ten minutes, but they slowly eased him onto his back with only several more cries of pain, and once he was ready Katara dashed to the basin and brought the water back with her, giving him first a drink of water, remembering that he said that he had been trying to get a drink when he fell.

She gingerly willed the water onto his back, earning her a small gasp and a flash of guilt before continuing to release the pent-up pain in the small of his back. As soon as she started to extract it, she nearly jumped at all the negative energy being released, and Aang had to bite down on a pillow to keep from screaming, an occasional tear escaping from brimming eyes. Katara couldn't believe how much pain he was in, and after a few minutes of expelling negative energy with water therapy, he could remove the pillow and hold a conversation without moaning in agony.

"Thanks", he breathed in exhaustion as she kept working over his scar.

"Liar," she said in a sort of frustrated sadness. He blinked at her in confusion. "You were in pain long before you tried to get a drink, Aang. The sheets are soaked with sweat from before you fell; I'm not stupid, you know."

He looked down in guilt, and mumbled something that she didn't catch. "Beg pardon, Aang?"

"I... I didn't want to wake you up."

A look of disbelief crossed her face, and she asked softly, "So you just sat here for an hour, in excruciating pain, because you didn't want to wake me up?"

"Two, actually," he mumbled unthinkingly, and froze as she scolded him again.

"Sorry, you saw here for _two _hours, in excruciating pain, because you didn't want to wake me up."

"Well... yeah."

Her face softened. "Aang... next time, just call for me, okay? If you don't promise that you will, I won't be able to sleep at night."

"Okay, I promise", he said wearily, as a small yawn escaped him. The pain wasn't gone, but it was manageable, and he was exhausted.

A few more minutes of silence, and then she broke it out of curiosity. "So, I'm guessing you never really finished training with the Guru?"

"Nuh-uh", came the mumbled response.

"Can I ask why?"

He was silent for a few minutes, and she thought he had fallen asleep when he answered, "He said I had to give up something, and I couldn't do it. It was something... I couldn't live without."

"Hmm", she responded thoughtfully. Another minute: "What.. what was it, Aang?"

She had placed the water away and was turning back to his bed to pull his sheets over him when the sleepy response came, followed shortly after by a snore: "I had to let... go of...you..."

Katara stood there for a second in shock while he was snoring softly, trying to register that he had essentially given up the Avatar State - what really made him the Avatar - for her, because in his mind, she was something he couldn't live without. Suddenly his strong reaction to that crazy General's sinking her underground when he was trying to induce Aang into the Avatar State made much more sense, though she had known for a while that he liked her.

She gave a small smile, and after waterbending the sweat out of his sheets, covered him up, and left his room, giving him a small kiss on the newly-haired forehead.

"Good night, Aang."

**Hoped you liked it! Please review and have a great day!**


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